


You Were Too Good

by tamethespaghetti



Category: Redline (Anime), Trava: Fist Planet (Anime)
Genre: Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Pre-Relationship, copious smoking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26382532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamethespaghetti/pseuds/tamethespaghetti
Summary: Trava gets discharged from the army and Shinkai follows.
Relationships: Trava & Shinkai (Trava Fist Planet)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 2





	You Were Too Good

Shinkai picked up his meal and scanned the mess hall. It took only a fraction of a second for his cybernetic eye to scan each personnel in the hall and to his surprise, it came back negative for Trava. He searched the room again, but came to the same conclusion, no Trava-shaped person was currently in the hall. Which was abnormal, because it was Wednesday and their schedules always aligned so they had dinner at the same time. 

Thinking about it now, Shinkai hadn’t seen Trava all day. Which, to be fair, wasn’t all that odd in itself, mechanics and pilots didn’t always work together, but Shinkai also hadn’t _heard_ from Trava either. No calls or messages. And that was unusual.

Shinkai located a minimally populated table at the edge of the room and maneuvered through the thinning crowds in the mess hall. He sat down, placing his food on the table, and pulled out his personal communication radio. Still no messages from Trava.

After a rushed meal Shinkai made the short walk to the barracks. Statistically, this was the mostly likely place for Trava to be at this hour, so it made the most sense to check here first. Shinkai knocked on Trava’s door and waited. And waited. And waited. Shinkai could have used his x-ray to check through the door to see if Trava was even in there, but after an unfortunate incident a few weeks into their partnership Trava had made it very clear that Shinkai was not to use that specific function of his eye on Trava’s door.

So Shinkai waited. He waited until he was almost sure Trava wasn’t in his room, and then the door opened to prove him wrong. Trava’s blue head popped into view in the small crack between the doorframe and the door.

“Ah, Shinkai,” Trava said as if he were surprised to see his partner at his door, “what are you doing here?”

“You weren’t at dinner. I was wondering why,” Shinkai said simply.

“Ah, yeah, I wasn’t real hungry,” Trava replied coolly and Shinkai didn’t believe him, especially since he discreetly checked Trava’s vitals and his heart rate was higher than normal. His partner was lying, and between that and the fact that Trava wouldn’t open the door more than a couple inches, Shinkai was getting the indication that there was something wrong.

“What’s up Trava?”

Trava shrugged and all Shinkai could see was forced casualness, “Nothing much.”

Shinkai scanned his partner’s face, normally, without his biomechanical eye implant, and noted a slight redness that tinted the sclera of Trava’s eyes. That was indicative of crying in species with tear ducts, which was usually caused by negative emotions. That was worrisome. And it didn’t seem like Trava would divulge any information as to why he seemed to be in this state. So Shinkai broke a promise he’d made to his partner and looked through Trava’s door.

It wasn’t a mess like it usually was. It was clean- no, sparse. Ah. That’s why. There were two full pieces of luggage beside Trava’s bunk, and they were full of everything Trava owned-

“Hey!” Trava barked and Shinkai’s telescopic eye snapped back into his orbit. Trava looked absolutely livid. He grabbed the front of Shinkai’s uniform and shook him violently, “What the hell Shinkai! Don’t fucking do that!”

“Are you going somewhere?” Shinkai asked, and the expression that passed over Trava’s face was legitimately quite terrifying and for a second Shinkai was certain Trava was going to deck him. But then all the anger seemed to fizzle out and Trava’s shoulders sagged.

“Don’t talk so loud asshole,” Trava signed, “and get in here.”

Trava opened the door wider and let Shinkai in. The room was so much cleaner than Shinkai remembered ever seeing it, but the smell of cigarette smoke that always accompanied Trava smelled thicker than usual. The ashtray beside Trava’s bed was overfilled.

Shinkai waited until Trava had closed the door behind them before asking, “What happened?”

Instead of answering Trava walked over to the desk and picked up the pack of cigarettes and the lighter that sat there. He pulled out one of the small cylinders, placed it between his lips, and lit it. Shinkai waited patiently as Trava took a few long drags, and then a few more. And then the cigarette had burnt down to the filter and Trava walked passed Shinkai to the ashtray and deposited of the cylinder of nothing more than useless burnt paper. And then he lit another one and walked back to the desk. He leaned against it and took a drag.

“I got discharged,” Trava finally said once his second cigarette was half finished. Shinkai blinked, and almost asked Trava to repeat that. Because that didn’t seem right. How? Why? Trava was their best pilot, why would they have- why now? What happened?

“What happened?”

Trava’s posture stiffened at that question. His shoulders raised, his grip on the cigarette tightened, and a quick checkup on his vitals told Shinkai that Trava’s respiration rate and pulse had spiked. And then, when Trava looked like he was going to answer, Shinkai saw his lip quiver. It was small and very slight but Shinkai caught it. And then Trava snapped his mouth back closed and to keep it that way, he bit his lip. Hard.

Trava _almost_ looked angry, but then Shinkai noticed something new. Trava’s larger, outer ears were drooping more than 20 degrees from their normal position. That meant he was sad. Trava was a lot of things, loud, annoying, angry, but Shinkai struggled to find a memory of a time where Trava had been truly, legitimately sad. He came up with a blank. Shinkai only knew about the drooping ears from when he’d done research on Trava’s species when they had first become partners.

Something had happened and Trava had been discharged. Some part of that was making Trava sad and at that moment, Shinkai realized that it really didn’t matter what had happened. What had happened had happened and nothing they did could change it. He also realized that he really really didn’t like Trava when he was sad.

“You were too good.”

Trava looked up at his partner, confusion written all over his face, “What?”

“You were too good,” Shinkai repeated, “compared to the others, so they decided to discharge you.”

Trava stared at Shinkai for a long time, too confused to be anything else, and Shinkai didn’t need his biomechanical eye to see the gears turning in Trava’s head. But then something seemed to click and Trava took a drag. As he breathed in he closed his eyes and they stayed shut until he had exhaled all the smoked he’d draw in and they both watched the smoke thin as it dissipated throughout the room.

Trava picked up the pack of cigarettes and the lighter off the desk and walked over to the bed. His long legs made the trip in a couple steps and once there, he took a seat on the now bare mattress. Shinkai watched his long fingers make quick work of extinguishing the butt and then lighting up another one. It was a well-practiced action and Shinkai knew with a strange certainty that he’d never get tired of watching Trava do it.

Trava let out a big sign, a large plume of gray smoke escaping past his lips as he did so, but then those lips quirked up in a small smile.

“Yeah,” Trava said, his voice small, “that’s basically what happened.”

Shinkai nodded, satisfied for now. So he said, “Let me go pack up my things.”

For the second time in what seemed like much too short of a time period, Trava looked at his partner with sheer confusion.

“What?”

“You got discharged, so why would I stay?” Shinkai replied bluntly, because it was really quite obvious and as much as he loved his partner, Trava needed to get his brain working a bit faster.

“Because they only discharged me. You’re still fine,” Trava slammed this nearly dead cigarette into the ashtray with enough force to throw a couple other, older butts up and out of the ashtray, all over the small table. He then pulled out yet another fresh cigarette and continued, “You’ve still got a job. You’re still a mechanic. You’re still-” Trava abruptly cut himself off and Shinkai swore he snarled.

Trava looked angry again and Shinkai almost asked why. But he didn’t. Because based on past experience, that only made things worse. So Shinkai stayed silent as Trava angrily smoked through another cigarette and stare at the now bare wall across from him. Shinkai remembered the posters and papers that had been pinned up on that wall like it was yesterday. Because it had been. And now the wall looked so cold and gray without any of that.

When this cigarette was nearly done Shinkai watched Trava hang his head, and from this new position it was hard to gauge Trava’s expression. But when he spoke again, he sounded miserable. It hurt. 

“They’ll pair you up with another pilot,” he said and then paused to take another drag, but it had burnt down too much so instead he just flicked it and watched black ash fall to the floor, “I know a bunch of them who’d love to have someone as talented as you as their personal mechanic.”

As depressing as the situation was, that compliment wasn’t lost to Shinkai. As rare as compliments from his partner were, -and when there were compliments, it was usually Trava bragging to other personnel, which was almost always accompanied by a healthy dose of self-praise- Trava did throw the odd compliment Shinkai’s way. But it had never been this sincere. This heartfelt. This reluctant.

Shinkai watched more ash fall from the dying cigarette and eventually Trava just let the whole thing go. The small, barely lit, roll of paper hit the ground and sprayed ash across a small section of the cool gray floor, which for once was clear of any of Trava’s clothes.

It didn’t feel right.

Shinkai walked a few steps across the small room, past the two pieces of overstuffed luggage, and sat down beside Trava on the bed. The bed creaked and the mattress dipped under his weight, as it had so many times before, but Trava didn’t move. He kept his head down, eyes down, gaze loosely locked on the gray floor and gray ash beneath him.

“But none of them are you.”

That got Trava’s attention. He turned his head slowly and when their eyes met Shinkai tried his best to ignore the glassy quality of his partner’s eyes and the wetness that ran down the short blue-gray fur of his cheeks.

“You’re the number one pilot,” Shinkai continued, never breaking eye contact with Trava because his one remaining fully biological eye was the most expressive part of his face and he wanted Trava to know how he felt, “Why would I ever want to be someone else’s mechanic?”

Trava’s eyes widened, and Shinkai was confident that his message had gotten through.

“What the hell Shinkai,” Trava said rubbing his eyes in a futile effort to rid them of his tears because more kept appearing and spilling over onto his cheeks, “You say some pretty dumb shit sometimes.”

Shinkai nodded, used to Trava’s avoidance mechanisms by now, “Sometimes.”

“What the hell are they going to think of us eh?”

“I’m your personal mechanic, so they kicked me out too right? Makes sense to me.”

That same, small smile managed to reappear on Trava’s lips and he nodded, “Yeah. Okay, yeah.”

“Good. Now I’ll go and pack up my- OOF!”

Trava had wrapped his arms around Shinkai’s stocky torso and forcibly drove any air in his lung out of his body with a bone-crushing hug. Which Shinkai readily returned once he’d managed to draw some air back into his lungs. He could feel Trava’s heart beating through his ribcage and the thin, military-issue undershirt, and its rate seemed to be returning to normal.

“Hey Shinkai?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

~*~

Shinkai stared at his room. It wasn’t as bare as Trava’s, but then again, it had never been as messy either. Shinkai didn’t have a lot of personal items. Most of what he had in his room were bit and piece of projects -some for the military, and some for leisure- and books he’d managed to accumulate during his time at the base. 

None of it really mattered. Anything important was either packed away in the single bag by his side, in his brain, or waiting for him at the front gates of the compound. He was done packing, so all he had left to do was actually leave.

He bowed his head and clasped his hands together to say a quick prayer. It wasn’t anything long or elaborate, but it felt necessary. Big changes required a prayer. A thanks for what was and a blessing for what was to come. A willing acceptance for what was and what will be, and an acknowledgment of how inconsequential he was in the universe and her plans.

He prayed that they would be okay.

He picked up his bag and left his room. And then he made his way to his commanding officer’s office, a letter of resignation held tightly in his hand.

~*~

An hour later they stood together under the quickly darkening sky, just outside the compound’s walls, dressed no longer in their uniforms and free from all military duty.

“You told them you were leaving?”

Shinkai nodded.

“What did they say?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Guess not.”

“What should we do now?” Shinkai asked, because he figured someone had to.

Trava lit a cigarette and took a long, slow inhale. His posture was relaxed and his ears had returned to their normal position. His eyes had no extra moisture nor were they rimmed with red, and when he turned to look down at Shinkai, the smile on his lips was brighter than any celestial body Shinkai had ever seen.

“No clue.”

Shinkai nodded. Yeah, they were going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I always felt like the explanation that Trava gave for why he and Shinkai weren't in the military anymore was kinda...weird? Like who gets discharged for being too good? Anyways, I wanted to write about these two before what happened in Trava: Fist Planet because I. want. more. content.


End file.
